The history of Bihar, for more than two decades, is replete with
massacres. Massacres of rural poor of dalit castes by various landlord armies.
In their desperate bid to suppress the ever growing rural poor uprising and to
hold onto their caste-class privileges, the new classes of landlords and kulaks
have frequently taken recourse to this terror tactics as a means to terrorise
the whole mass of people. Yet the massacre at Laxmanpur-Bathe of Jehanabad on
the night of 1 December is a case apart and it rightly shook the conscience of
the nation in the 50th year of Indian independence.

In all 61 persons -- two thirds of whom were children, women and old persons
-- were butchered to death in a cold-blooded operation at dead of night. All the
victims belonged to the class of agrarian labourers and were dalits in the
social hierarchy. In their struggle for socio-economic emancipation they had
taken up the revolutionary banner of the CPI(ML).

The killers were men of the Ranvir Sena -- an upper caste landlord army which
enjoys the political backing of the BJP as well as support from a section of the
RJD.

This time the target chosen was a village in Jehanabad that lies close to the
districts of Bhojpur, Patna and Aurangabad. The essential purpose was to send
the message across the whole of central. The time chosen was significant as the
political crisis at the centre had matured and a caretaker government was in
office. Thus, by effecting an upper caste mobilisation of both Bhumihars and
Rajputs, it also symbolised the beginning of the political offensive by
arch-reactionary forces. As reports suggest, this was the first of the trilogy
of massacres before the elections. The other two are planned for the districts
of Rohtas and Buxar.

The whole operation was meticulously planned. Professional killers were
assembled from all neighbouring districts apart from Jehanabad. To create a
record and grab the international news headlines, the number of persons to be
killed was predetermined with the specific targeting of women and children. For
a smooth operation, a soft target was selected where people were most
unsuspecting, most unprepared and thus chances of resistance were zero.

A record was indeed created not only in terms of numbers but also in the
measure of brutality and cowardice. Side by side, another record was created by
the media, particularly in Bihar, which excelled in hypocrisy. From the very
first day, Sangh Parivar propaganda machinery swung into action and the media
began playing to its tune. A prominent journalist from Patna wrote in a national
daily that it was the same old story of clash between Ranvir Sena and Naxalites,
the only difference being that this time Naxalites were unarmed. How cleverly
the cold-blooded massacre of women and children was rationalised as a routine
kind of confrontation! The same journalist in subsequent write-ups tried to
rationalise Ranvir Sena as an expression of peasant's anguish against
indiscriminate Naxalite violence. This attitude was common to the entire upper
caste journalist fraternity barring a few exceptions. The long list of upper
caste villages supposedly under the threat of Naxalite revenge were boldly
displayed in newspapers and cock-and-bull stories of PWG squads entering into
Jehanabad were dished out. The news analysis that began with Laxmanpur-Bathe
invariably ended up with concern over general deterioration of law and order and
demands for action against Naxalite extremists who dare to run parallel
governments and even attack the police. The news of protests were underplayed
whereas the fast by BJP leaders and Vajpayee's visit were overplayed. All this
was a well-orchestrated move to divert public attention from the Ranvir Sena,
from its organic links with the BJP and to pressurise the state administration
to divert its operations against the victims themselves.

It was the age-old story of pen against people with the only difference that
this time the pen was directly attached to the bayonet! It goes without saying
that the state machinery was too eager to oblige the 'pen-killers' and after a
token operation against the Ranvir Sena -- more on paper than on the field --
the entire thrust has been diverted against people's forces on the pretext of
preventing any revenge.

Still the machinations of the whole range of mercenaries is not the last word
in the rural poor's march to liberty. The protest is growing fast and assuming
larger dimensions.

On 5 December, the left and democratic alliance of 17 parties called for a
Bihar Bandh. Incidentally the bandh was the first one after the Supreme Court's
infamous verdict imposing a blanket ban on all bandhs. The bandh was supported
by a host of other democratic forces and it was an astounding success. The
massacre was condemned by progressive public opinion all across the country and
even abroad. Many prominent intellectuals joined the protest.

The massacre has generated immense class hatred among the rural poor,
strengthened their determination to close their ranks, and led to the growing
realisation that going over to offensive actions is the best way of defence. The
Party's rally in Arwal proved to be a grand success. Battle cries against Ranvir
Sena rent the air. Thousands of young people were seething with anger and went
back with the resolve to take the battle to the enemy's own ground.

With the advent of the Ranvir Sena, the class war is no longer confined to
this or that region of Central Bihar. It is engulfing the entire central Bihar.
This has also created conditions for forging a broader class unity, a unity
cemented by blood. The class war is also making irrelevant the false god of
social justice, Laloo Yadav, who in his earlier incarnation had encouraged the
growth of Ranvir Sena as a Machiavellian plot to wipe out our Party. In fact, it
has turned into a Frankenstein for him and is threatening his own social base in
the changed political environment of BJP's growing political offensive. This has
indeed created a favourable condition to effect a new social equation on our
Party's own initiative. The Party has intensified its offensive in various forms
and in Bhojpur in particular certain actions, prior to and after the Party
Congress, have helped unleash the initiative at the grassroots.

The challenge of Ranvir Sena, the perpetrators of 'national shame', has to be
met. In the concrete context of Bihar, the interests of the revolutionary
peasant movement as well as the national responsibility of halting the onslaught
of the saffron army has merged into one and the same task -- wiping out Ranvir
Sena.

The rural proletariat has been shedding blood for its socio-economic
emancipation and political liberty. It is our duty to organise people to avenge
the death of their class brethren and for that we shall have to undertake the
widest exposure campaign, particularly in view of media hostility; do away with
all sectarian attitudes, unite all positive social sections and political forces
and raise our preparations to a higher level to deal a crushing blow to this
army of butchers, of cowards.

This battle can surely be won and must be won. This is the call of human
progress, democracy and true nationalism. This is the call of the modern times.